Chance Encounters
by Kanna37
Summary: Sometimes the last person you'd ever want to see is the one person you need to. Canon into A/R.


**Chance Encounters**

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Inuyasha.

~oOo~

A chilly wind blew through the shrine grounds just as a teary-eyed and dispirited young woman slid open the door to the well-shrine and stumbled out, her bright yellow bag dragging on the ground behind her. Once out she stopped for a moment to slide the door shut, then turned and made her way slowly towards the house that sat off to the side of the main shrine.

Kagome eyed the modest house she'd lived in all her life through bleary eyes; she'd spent the last several hours – yet again - crying over the baka hanyou she loved, and her face showed the strain. She sighed... she really didn't feel like talking at this particular time, and she was afraid her mother would tag her the moment she walked in the door, especially with a face that looked like hers. She had no energy to fake it though, so resigned to her probable fate she moved to open the door only to find it locked.

_Well, at least that means I won't be snagged by mama the moment she sees my face, _she thought wearily. _I wonder where everyone is?_

The house was silent as she found the extra key under its planter in the flower box near the door and unlocked it. Removing her shoes once she was inside she dropped her yellow monstrosity inside the genkan and headed for the kitchen, knowing that's where her mother would have left any notes, pinned to the refrigerator.

Sure enough there was one, and feeling peculiarly relieved to see it as it meant that she wouldn't immediately have to face her family, she pulled it off the appliance and opened the folded note.

_Oh... that's right. I remember mama mentioning this the last time I was home – Souta's class trip to Kyoto. They're supposed to be gone for four days. Well, _she dropped the note on the table and reached into the refrigerator for some lychee soda, _by the time they get here I'll have made up my mind and can tell them all then what I've decided. I just don't feel like going over the whole thing twice, though, even with mama. I just want to forget for a while..._

Unfortunately, wanting to forget wasn't forgetting, as her mind once again played through the last several hours in the Sengoku Jidai. It was definitely time to rethink her presence in that time... her presence at Inuyasha's side.

Especially as Kikyou had brought up that very point to the hanyou this time, as well. It was something she had never done before. And it was apparent that her words had left Inuyasha dumbfounded and unable to answer quickly, as he'd simply sputtered for several seconds and then fallen silent.

"_If she were not with you, I could be."_

Those words kept echoing in her mind, and she was sure they were on Inuyasha's mind, as well. She laughed darkly to herself. Maybe the decision of whether she was going to remain at his side was no longer even in her hands at all.

Maybe if she just didn't ever go back he wouldn't even care any longer.

With a deep sigh she stared at the kitchen table for a few moments and then shook her head, forcibly pushing those thoughts out of her mind. It was time to rest, to relax and try to recharge her batteries – in other words, for once to get some good, deep sleep.

The disaster her life was becoming would still be around tomorrow to stress her out.

~oOo~

The next morning Kagome allowed herself to sleep in, but after a while she just couldn't handle laying in bed with her morose and painful thoughts any longer so she dragged herself out of it and forced herself into the shower.

_If I never go back to the past, I won't ever have to be covered in youkai guts and wishing for a nice, hot shower again, _she thought to herself, trying to cheer herself up. Getting out and wrapping herself in a towel, she made it back to her room and looked at the clock. It was mid-morning, and she had a whole day ahead of herself with nothing really to do.

She couldn't face staying in the house for an entire day with nothing to do but stare at the walls and so, dressing herself quickly, she decided to just take the day and wander around the city. It had been so long since she'd done that – three and a half years in the past had really killed her life on this side. When she had gone out it had only really been to school or to get what supplies they needed before immediately heading back to the past.

Dressed lightly in summer clothes she locked up the house and then walked across the shrine courtyard, headed for the stairs. As she came to the top of them she stopped for a moment and looked out across the city, her eyes empty. Once upon a time this view had excited her – she'd loved to stand here and look at the greatest city on earth. But now all she could picture was how this place looked five hundred years ago – and how this city had destroyed that.

_I'm not the same anymore. If I never go back, how will I fit in here? Will I always feel so lost, so empty? _For indeed, she felt lost looking at Tokyo. In her heart this place should still be wild and green and the skies filled with so many stars at night that it bathed the land in so much ambient light that it was never truly dark. Here, you couldn't see but a handful of the brightest stars and the moon.

Finally, after a few minutes of those thoughts she started down the stairs, having no destination in mind, just planning to take it one step at a time. For if she were indeed not going back to Sengoku Jidai, to Inuyasha, then she would need to reintegrate herself into this modern life. It would be hard, and she would never be fully happy with this life again; she knew now what she was missing as no one else still alive did. But she would no longer have a choice and would have to take up a life here once more, learning to limp along enough to get by.

She only hesitated for a moment when she reached the bottom of the stairs before turning to the right. It was a path that she had rarely taken even before falling down the well. It was to the left that most of the city lay, including her school. But on this day something told her right was the direction she wanted to take.

Lifting her face into the breeze, she wrinkled her nose and sighed. Even such a simple pleasure – breathing in the air around oneself – was useless here for the air smelled nothing of freshness and life, only pollution and desiccation. How would she ever be able to reintegrate herself to this modern world? She hadn't realized until now how much she'd come to hate the modern era and its rape of the natural world.

So much had been lost in what humanity had tried to gain. Sure, technology made things easier, but honestly, the easy way was not usually the best way. Life had been hard back in the past – but it had been better, too.

This... plastic existence one was bound to in this modern era was not a good one, and despite the fact that she'd been born to this time she wished with all her heart that she had not been bound to it as everyone else was. Because no one else knew the difference... except her. And that would make for a very lonely life.

Even as she thought that, though, she knew that she'd made her decision. She would not go back. There was no point. Already her heart lay dying within her and she knew that if she went back what little was left of it would be destroyed by the one she loved – who loved another. A better version of her... what and who she had once been.

But it hurt, oh, it hurt, that decision, and it seemed as though even in trying to save herself she was dooming her soul to a slow and lingering death. The only thing that she would avoid if she refused to go back was actually seeing him forsake her for Kikyou – of having to hear him tell her to leave and seal the well – to never return.

Suddenly cold, she rubbed her hands up and down her arms as she wandered through streets she'd never been down before. It looked like a nice area – a small, quiet subdivision that lay behind the shrine. If she looked up she could still see the Goshinboku's highest branches.

She looked back down and realized she had entered a pretty park, rather large, surprisingly. Most parks in Tokyo were small – space was at a premium, and the rich preferred not to leave any space unused – unsold. But it was beautiful and precious for its size. Her mind wandered back to the Goshinboku, suddenly glad it was part of a protected shrine – or it would have been cut down years ago to make way for more high-rise apartment buildings that would make a rich man richer.

_That tree... its always been my guiding light. Even when I'm lost I can find my way home just by looking for it. But this time... I don't think it can save me, for this time I've lost my heart, not just my way. _She sighed, tired of feeling sad, of moping, of her emotions driving her insane. She wished that she could just forget she had feelings – that she could be like Sesshoumaru.

That thought actually made her chuckle, in a wry, slightly bitter way. "That's the ticket. I should go back through the well and track Sesshoumaru down. Ask him to tell me how to get rid of my feelings. I can just imagine what he'd say... 'Foolish human. You cannot be rid of your emotions. You are too weak.' And he'd be right," she sighed. "I am too weak."

"Only because you let your emotions control you, miko," came a voice that was most definitely not inside her head, and panicking, eyes wide and shocked Kagome spun around... to see something she had never ever thought she'd see here in the modern era - Sesshoumaru. He was wearing modern clothes... and he was smiling. Just a little, but it was a smile. He _also_ wasn't trying to kill her. Maybe it wasn't really him...

"S-Sesshoumaru," she stuttered, taking a step back. "What... I mean... I mean-"

He cut her off, his smile widening, becoming sharp. "It is interesting that you are more frightened of me right now than you ever were in the past. Why is that, I wonder, little miko?" he asked, fangs flashing in the sunlight.

Getting a grip on her shock, she scowled at the arrogant youkai. "Frightened's not quite the right word, Sesshoumaru," she said bitingly. "I am simply surprised to see you... here. So what _are_ you doing here, anyway?"

At that his expression eased and he actually chuckled, especially when her jaw dropped in astonishment. "As to that, Kagome, I live here, what else would I be doing here? You must surely be aware that youkai live much longer than humans."

For some reason his answer eased her, and once more getting her shock under control she had to admit that Sesshoumaru, who had always been gorgeous, looked even better when he smiled. He seemed... more relaxed now than he had been in the past, but she imagined that five hundred years would change anyone, even him.

"Yes... I suppose I just hadn't really thought about what that meant. Inuyasha-" she broke off, swallowing the bitterness that wanted to come out, hating herself for it, "-he... never smelled any youkai here, and I also never really sensed any." She looked thoughtful for a moment, then. "But then again... the soul piper is still here... and I never really noticed that until I saw him, either."

"Indeed. Youkai are still here, but we are hidden." He sighed then, looking up at the sky through the trees, then looked back down and gestured at the path, inviting her to walk with him.

She accepted.

"It is still a bitter pill to swallow that youkai, who ruled reality for so long, are now nothing more than myths to frighten children and the gullible. But there is no denying that we cannot be as we once were." He flicked a glance at her, noting her red-rimmed blue eyes and her subdued aura. "You are here for a break from the past, miko?"

She clenched her hands tightly and shook her head, determined not to cry again. "No, I'm... not going back. Inuyasha... Kikyou has given him an ultimatum, I suppose you could say. I left before he could tell me to leave. After all, if she's with him he has no need of me."

"Tell me... I have never seen you give up so easily, without even a fight. Why would you do so now, when your very heart is involved? Is love not worth fighting for?" he asked, the word love falling from his tongue so easily that it caught Kagome off-guard.

Then she laughed, and the sound was a bitter draught. "Without a fight? What do you know of it, Sesshoumaru? You aren't around that much, so you don't know. I have _been_ fighting for months. Months since she was resurrected and he chose her despite the fact that she tried to take him to hell, and even to kill me! Even knowing that she gave my shards of the jewel to Naraku, he still chose her. If I had been the one to do the same he probably would have killed me for the betrayal. He certainly wouldn't have welcomed me with open arms and grieved for me."

Sesshoumaru looked at her; she spoke nothing but truth, her eyes filled with ancient hurt and endless sorrow. And yet... she was wrong.

"He did not choose Kikyou, that shadow of a woman. He chose to protect her from _Naraku_, yes. But he did not choose her as a mate, a wife. He did not give her his heart." He pinned her with strangely knowing eyes. "He could not give her his heart like he had once wanted to do, because he no longer had it."

Kagome scowled at him with confusion, absently flicking a lock of obsidian hair over her shoulder as the wind toyed with it and a few dead leaves caught in the soft strands. "What do you mean? You make no sense, Sesshoumaru!"

"Do I not, priestess? Remember, what is the present in that time for you is the distant past for me. I know what happens, and you do not." His voice was intense and mesmerizing and she stared at him silently, awed at the power even his vocal tones portrayed. "I am telling you – if you leave him and seal the well, he will allow himself to die in the battle with Naraku."

She gasped, stunned. "What?! You can't be serious – how could you know something like that? Does he die in the battle with Naraku? And if he does, how could you possibly know it was because I stayed here?" She spun away from him, breathing heavily as she clutched at her shirt over her pounding heart. "You are toying with me, you have to be. Why are you here, Sesshoumaru? And I don't mean here in Tokyo. Why are you _here,_ talking to _me?_"

His voice came from behind her, still and calm just like it always was.

"Because he told me he would. That is how I know. You must go back, Kagome. If you don't you will change the past that I know, that I have lived." He sighed. "Inuyasha told me of this time, this point at which you now stand. When you had decided not to return to the past. The chance that you would not return frightened him."

Her brow furrowed as she stared at him. "Wait... how did he know I was thinking about not returning?" she asked suspiciously. This whole thing was very strange and confusing.

"Because you told him, of course. When you saw him again, you told him that you had been considering not doing so." He chuckled again, sticking his hands in his pockets as they meandered down the path, through sakura trees and magnolia, even fragrant pines. "He told me once that he had actually considered destroying the well himself, trapping you there with him permanently so that you could never leave him. But in the end he knew you would hate him if he did, and he couldn't stand that thought."

Kagome shook her head; closing her eyes she pinched the bridge of her nose between her fingers, the tension, hurt and tears of the last two days was taking its toll and giving her a massive headache.

"Speak plainly, Sesshoumaru. He told you these things? I find that hard to believe – it's not like you two act like family and get all cozy for nice little conversations about a rather unimportant little human wench," she gritted out from between clenched teeth.

It was silent for a moment, but before she could open her eyes she felt slender but strong fingers massaging her temples, a healing heat flowing from them into her tense muscles, soothing and calming them. She wanted to protest, but it felt too good and she finally just sighed, her shoulders slumping as she gave up arguing.

"Things never stay the same, Kagome," he whispered, continuing to gentle her pain with his fingers. "We made our peace long ago. While we are not extremely close, we nonetheless have a good relationship now. It is chance that I stumbled upon you this day, miko, or the hand of the gods, but I am going to take advantage of it. You must return to the past, for if you do not my brother will kill Naraku and then let himself die from his wounds, wounds that would not normally have killed him. And all because he cannot face life without you. It is not Kikyou that gives him the will to live, the power to fight, or the faith to love. It is you. In the past I know and the present I am living, _you_ are Inuyasha's mate. His wife. Because it is _you_ that he loves, you that he needs," he emphasized once more to the stunned and breathless girl now staring at him with wide, liquid eyes.

"_Truly?"_ she breathed, begging for validation with her eyes. If he were teasing her... but he was not, as she saw nothing but truth in his gaze – and remembered that a liar was one thing that Sesshoumaru had never been.

It took her a moment to speak again, her voice choked in an onslaught of emotions – a release of pain and sorrow that had been locked inside for so long that it left a hollow place behind it. But love was rushing to fill that spot, and joy was right behind it.

She nodded at him as he dropped his hands and stepped back, a small smile lingering on his face as he looked at her. "If he needs me, then I will go back. I will stay by his side." The very idea of Inuyasha dying because she'd left him scared her to death, and with fright dogging her steps she began to hurry back towards the shrine, calling over her shoulder a heartfelt, "Thank you!" to the daiyoukai that had just created his own reality – his past and his present - through his own interference.

She had always tried not to change the past with her knowledge of it, but in this she could only be glad that he had, because if Inuyasha had died because of her she would have died herself of a guilty, broken heart.

Sesshoumaru watched her run towards her future and his past and smiled, then turned and began walking back in the direction he had originally been walking in... it was his day to visit his brother and sister-in-law and his newest niece. In fact, it was highly ironic that he had met up with the past version of Kagome in this particular park, because it was one she and her mate and children played at often, since they lived just up at the head of this same street.

He chuckled as he thought about how many times the young Kagome had run into her future self and not even known it. Even Inuyasha, when coming through the well had not felt or sensed his future self. Shippo's kitsune magic at work... he really was very good at disguising himself and others.

Reaching his destination, he rang the bell of the rather large house and shook his head at the commotion coming from within. When the door opened he smiled at the older version of the girl he'd just spoken to and she grinned back, a certain memory playing through her mind.

She welcomed him in with a whispered "Thank you," and her voice was exactly the same as it had been not ten minutes before when her younger self had yelled it over her shoulder as she ran home.

He nodded, pleased with himself and with life.

~oOo~

A/N: Older story I found on one of my old thumb drives. I'd forgotten it, honestly, so when I found it I just filed it away and forgot about it again. But I've been looking around and cleaning up my old work and so I decided to do it for this one, too.

Wenchster, a little fluffy Inu/Kags just for you!

Amber


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